South Bay politicians are reacting angrily to an MTA proposal to delay two local rail projects due to the worsening economy.

In November, voters approved Measure R, the half-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects, with the expectation that the Crenshaw line would be completed no later than 2018.

But under a new draft proposal from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, that project will not be done until 11 years later, in 2029.

South Bay politicians also expected the MTA to extend the Green Line to Los Angeles International Airport as soon as 2015. Under the new draft, that project will not be done until 2018 at the earliest, and perhaps as late as 2022.

“We were totally taken aback by that,” said Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Redondo Beach, who has lobbied to bring the Green Line to LAX. “The start date is moved back three years. That’s troubling. We’re going to fix that.”

With the passage of Measure R, the MTA will be able to add many new projects throughout the county to its long-range funding plan. But the economic downturn – and the accompanying drop in sales tax revenue – means that the MTA’s draft schedule is not as aggressive as it would have been a couple of months ago.

“We’re now realizing the intensity of the recession,” said Carol Inge, the MTA’s chief planning officer. “The state has a huge budget shortfall, and they’re talking about reducing some of the money that comes to transportation.”

The project that would be most affected by the schedule change is the Crenshaw line, which would run from Exposition Boulevard through South Los Angeles and Inglewood, and join up with the Green Line at Aviation Boulevard.

Under the expenditure plan that was presented to voters for Measure R, the Crenshaw line was among the MTA’s highest priorities.

But in order to attract federal dollars, Inge said the MTA now has to give greater consideration to the subway along Wilshire Boulevard and the Downtown Regional Connector, a subway which would link the Blue Line with the Gold Line.

“In order to keep the whole package of projects moving, we couldn’t keep the Crenshaw line on the same schedule,” she said.

County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district includes the Crenshaw corridor, said that the MTA board had not been sufficiently consulted on the delay.

“Those who speak out of turn about what is not going to happen with Crenshaw, and offer other corridors or other perspectives, need to think twice about it,” he said. “We should not allow the residents along the Crenshaw corridor to be subjected to short shrift.”

Supporters of the Green Line-to-LAX extension were also disappointed because they believe the link is relatively affordable, at $400 million, and should be completed soon to coincide with the LAX modernization project.

The draft proposal indicates that the extension could be complete by 2018 if LAX assists financially. Without such assistance, it would not be done until 2022. Though that timeline is later than supporters want, it does fall within the schedule attached to Measure R, which called for the project to be completed anywhere from 2015-2028.

Outgoing MTA CEO Roger Snoble was on the phone with Rosendahl and Oropeza’s staff on Wednesday, attempting to reassure them both about the timing of the Green Line extension.

“They can’t change it without involving the Legislature,” Oropeza said. “What happened was that maybe some overly zealous staff went a little too far without checking in with the board members.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.